Alright, so I want to start up Dom3 modding and mapping. I've tracked down the resources I need and understand how to do what I want to do, I just need inspiration and feedback. I'm going to start with a map (and maybe do another map after that and then a mod nation, we'll see how long my motivation keeps up), but I'd like something about it to be at least sort of different, so I'm going to pick your brains!
How do you guys like the caves in the current map? I like the idea of them, but the implementation leaves a little to be desired, in my opinion (it's a little hard/completely impossible without the neighbor-connections filter to figure out what connects to what).
Wraparound or no? It's easy enough to design something for wraparound and have both versions but very difficult to go the other direction, so I'll probably plan for wraparound. If you guys have ideas for why this is good/bad I'd appreciate it.
Fixed start provinces or no? On one hand this makes for more balanced gameplay if you have the right number of people. On the other hand it leaves big gaps if you don't. I'll definitely be marking some provinces (particularly good or bad ones) as no-start either way.
Some provinces prone to have more magic sites than the rest? I like the idea of these and I'll probably use them unless there are multiple votes against them. Just so people know, I think deserts and wastes already have higher magic site probabilities, but there's a province mod tag that increases the chances further. Some maps mark these provinces with landmarks or little stars, so I guess that's another question: If they're included, should these provinces be marked in some way?
Finally, any themes, ideas for landscape shapes, province names, other stuff? I think I'll be using the Cradle of the Gods map as a base for the design elements (like
Elmokki uses for his), just so you know. Things I've brainstormed so far (listed roughly from mundane to weird): one large crescent-shaped continent (leads easily to twelve bays being incorporated), two or three large continents with very few connections between them, crater lake of sorts with a large island in the middle (essentially concentric circles of water and land), map that's about half water with a cave system running below the ocean accessible by land and water, terraces of a giant mountain/tree/something else, map that's about 1/3 normal and 1/3 broken apart in some astral explosion and 1/3 tainted with blood magic (exploded part is essentially just floating chunks that would play like an archepelago with little water, tainted part is largely wasteland and blood-oriented sites, possibly some "portals through hell" that work for movement over multiple provinces or something like that, this map would probably have a lot of manually placed sites and thematic names).
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